Brewers take a gander at canny Wild Goose

BOULDER — You never know what can happen when you just help your neighbor, as the people at Wild Goose Canning can attest.

The company began as a friendly service to a brewer in its office building who was upset with its canning system. Wild Goose developed something more efficient for the brewery, and its design was so revolutionary that it spun into a full-time business.

Now, Wild Goose’s systems are in more than 200 breweries across the nation, plus three in Australia, two in England and one in Norway.

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“None of us sat around five, five and a half years ago thinking we would be where we are right now,” said Roger Walz, sales manager at Wild Goose.

Founding engineers Jeff Aldred and Alexis Foreman build the canning systems and handle engineering and development; Walz’s bio on Wild Goose’s website lists him as the company’s “beer ambassador.” He’s always been interested in beer, even in the then-barren New England craft-brewing market where he spent his youth.

Walz moved to Colorado in 1991, where he taught about beer in Denver, then moved to Boulder to run the taproom at Avery Brewing. He’s a certified cicerone, which is the beer equivalent to a sommelier. Walz, an old family friend of Aldred and Foreman, came to Wild Goose at the beginning as a consultant, then Aldred and Foreman hired him full-time.

Wild Goose sells its origin story as “one unhappy brewer, five cans a minute, two engineers and a few cold ones.” The brewer in question is Upslope, which has been a staple of the Boulder beer community since 2008. Wild Goose was called Wild Goose Engineering back then, and the company had no plans to get involved with canning.

Wild Goose Canning

• CEO: Jeff Aldred, CEO

• Employees: 43

• Revenue: Undisclosed, but projected to more than double in 2016

• 1750 55th St., Boulder, CO 80301

• 720-406-7442

But Wild Goose and Upslope shared a wall in their building, and the brewers at Upslope approached Wild Goose with their problem: Their canning system had to be operated manually, and it was wildly inefficient.

“We had a couple things they wanted and needed,” Walz said. “We had a machine shop, and engineers with some time on their hands. And they had a couple things that we wanted and needed. One was space to have meetings. And, two, they had beer.”

Wild Goose and Upslope have a close relationship to this day. When both companies needed space to expand, Wild Goose moved to a new building and stipulated that their old space be reserved for Upslope.

The canning system that Wild Goose developed for Upslope was automated, which allowed the brewers to meet the market’s demands for their beer. Wild Goose’s systems can up to 95 beers a minute, 19 times more than Upslope’s old system, and this improved efficiency helped push Upslope from the red to the black.

Wild Goose’s canning systems are revolutionary because of their size and mobility. They can fit in a truck, which can be driven to a brewery so the beer can be canned onsite without taking up additional space in the brewhouse. That has allowed many smaller breweries to can their beer when they previously would have been unable.

“They don’t need to have bigger space, they don’t need to buy a bigger building, they don’t need to blow out a wall, but it’s still getting their product and brand recognition on the market,” Walz said.

Wild Goose didn’t immediately decide to commercialize its new product, at least to the degree that it is today. However, the company did see a place for itself in the market, which Walz helped identify when it hired him.

Canning, rather than bottling, is attractive to craft breweries for many reasons. Cans prevent light from getting into the beer, chill faster, and are lighter, more portable and more easily recyclable.

“The initial work was more to help our neighbors,” Walz said. “And it was fun. Then this thing started rolling.”

It started rolling at the 2011 Craft Brewers’ Conference in San Francisco. Then, Wild Goose’s system was still just a cool idea it thought would be viable on the market. Walz, Aldred and Foreman did their own marketing the night before the show on the floor of the convention center. They had a booth in the corner of a small room, and people just kept coming. They were so busy that they didn’t have time to process the exposure their company had just gotten; Walz realized it as they drove over the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back to Colorado.

Wild Goose filled almost 200 orders from the conference, and now its website is filled with the testimonials of those who use their systems.

“Not every company I work with gives this kind of customer support, but it is a huge relief to know that when we call you guys with a problem, there’s someone that gives a (hoot) on the other end,” said Jeff Erway of La Cumber Brewing Co. “Keep kicking ass.”

“We truly love what we do, and we’re very grateful to do this every day,” Walz said. “I was talking to my coworkers in a Monday morning meeting, and even as tired as I was, it’s moments like that, just still being super continually excited about what we do.”

Not bad for starting with beer with your neighbors.